Eric Zemmour fined 1,000 euros for defamation

Jérémie Cohen, a young Jewish man, was fatally struck by a tram after being beaten. Eric Zemmour had accused lawyer Patrick Klugman of having “hushed up the affair”.

Former far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, president of Reconquête!, was found guilty of “public defamation” against Patrick Klugman, and sentenced to a fine of 1,000 euros, Thursday January 18. He had accused the lawyer of having “muffled” the Jérémie Cohen affair, this young Jewish man fatally struck by a tram in February 2022, after being hit.

Before the 2022 presidential election, the victim’s father contacted the candidate. “I saw him, he came to see me and (…) he understood very quickly that his lawyer Klugman absolutely wanted to cover up the affair, and that’s why he fired him”declared Eric Zemmour on April 5, 2022, on the set of France 2.

The Paris Criminal Court also sentenced the former journalist to 2,000 euros in damages and 2,000 euros in legal fees. “I am eminently satisfied with the conviction of Eric Zemmour (…). He wanted to exploit a news item in a pitiful way”, reacted to AFP Patrick Klugman. Eric Zemmour’s lawyer, Olivier Pardo, announced that his client would appeal.

A conviction last year for homophobic insult

On February 16, 2022, Jérémie Cohen, 31 years old and with a slight disability, was crossing the railway tracks when he was hit by a tram in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), just after being hit by young people. In April 2022, Eric Zemmour publicly wondered if Jérémie Cohen was “died because he was Jewish”. A year after the events, the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office assured that no evidence had come to support the “religious motive”.

Eric Zemmour has often been prosecuted in court. On September 28, he was fined 4,000 euros for homophobic insults.